Plaquemines calls for voluntary evacuation

SUSAN POAG/ THE TIMES-PICAYUNECaprice Henry, a former resident of Buras who has been living since Hurricane Katrina in a trailer at the Diamond community trailer site in Plaquemines Parish, carries bedding for herself and her three children Thursday, September 11, 2008 into the shelter at the Belle Chasse Auditorium. Plaquemines Parish set up the shelter for residents in lower Plaquemines, many of whom currently reside in trailers, and was prepared to house 200 people if needed.

Wind gusts in south Plaquemines Parish from Hurricane Ike picked up enough Thursday morning to prompt authorities to issue a voluntary evacuation call and set up a shelter in Belle Chasse.

While the call went out for residents in the southern part of the parish, and especially those living in trailers, to spend Thursday night at the Belle Chasse auditorium, little significant damage was expected from Ike. Nonetheless, authorities in Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes were expecting tidal flooding, accompanied by gusty winds.

"We're getting some high winds already," Plaquemines Parish President Billy Nungesser said Thursday morning. "That's why we opened the shelter for anyone who feels unsafe. We also still have a lot of people in FEMA trailers."

SCOTT THRELKELD / THE TIMES-PICAYUNELouisiana National Guardsmen sandbag a non-federal levee Friday near the Scarsdale Pumping Station. The levee separates St. Bernard Parish from Plaquemines Parish. Storm surge from Hurricane Ike overtopped the levee and threatened to flood nearby homes. Guardsmen and officials from both parishes worked throughout the day to stop multiple breaches.

Nungesser said crews were working to shore up the privately owned Citrus Lands levee near Point Celeste that breached during Hurricane Gustav. During Gustav, crews worked frantically to close the breach to keep water from flooding Louisiana 23, the north-south artery on the west bank of the parish.

Water was expected to begin rising against the levee overnight Thursday into today, Nungesser said.

In lower St. Bernard Parish, where a voluntary evacuation was called Wednesday for residents who live outside the levee system, the Sheriff's Office had set up a roadblock on Louisiana 46 at Verret. That road and others south of it leading to the communities of Shell Beach, Yscloskey and Delacroix were already flooded by Thursday afternoon.

Workers used limestone to fashion a makeshift levee to keep water off Florrisant Highway, officials said.